Portfolios - BBC Antiques Roadshow, Seaton Delaval Hall, 2011

BBC Antiques Roadshow, Seaton Delaval Hall, 2011

July 14, 2011 brought the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow to Seaton Deleval Hall, just outside of Newcastle. As well as a chance to finally get a date with Fiona Bruce, this was a chance to observe at close quarters one of the country’s best loved Sunday TV shows, in action. Venturing forth with my trusty 50mm lens, I was keen to try and capture something of the spectacle and the people who make it happen; not Fiona et al, but the Great British Public, who put their own indelible stamp on everywhere they congregate, en masse.

This has been a subject of interest for me for as long as I have been interested in making photographs and has a long tradition. Whilst British photography has often played second and third fiddle to that produced by our American and European cousins, it is true that the British only do British like the British, and the best work in this genre has been produced by British photographers. Most notable has been Martin Parr, but for me the first man of British photography is Tony Ray Jones, who captured the British at leisure in a tender yet frank way that hasn’t been surpassed since. With the spirit of TRJ in my DSLR, I set forth...